'Doctor Who': 'The Girl Who Waited' recap

It seems that The Doctor is not a fan of tourists. Eager to avoid the most beautiful planet in the universe - the "Planet of the Coffee Shops" - the Time Lord instead takes Amy and Rory to paradise planet Apalapucia. There's just one problem - Apalapucia has been overrun by a deadly plague that affects two-hearted beings like the Doctor.

To allow families and friends to visit stricken patients, the planet's quarantine facility has been split into two time-streams - known as Green Anchor and Red Waterfall. Amy is accidentally separated from the Doctor and Rory, becoming stranded in the latter time-stream. Time moves faster in Red Waterfall, and as mere seconds pass for the Doctor and Rory, Amy is left waiting for an entire week.

But there's still hope - Amy is linked to her friends via a 'Time Glass', which the Doctor links into the TARDIS to lock onto her location. He instructs Amy to take refuge inside the Two Streams facility, but warns her to stay away from the Hand-Bots patrolling the grounds. "Their kindness will kill you," he declares.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor arms Rory with a pair of specs which are equipped with a camera and microphone. Since he can't enter the plague-ridden facility, Rory will serve as his eyes and ears. Inside Two Streams, Amy speaks with the Interface - an artificial intelligence designed to act as her guide, teacher and friend.

The TARDIS arrives within the Red Waterfall time-steam and, with the Doctor effectively trapped, Rory sets off to rescue his wife alone. Meanwhile, Amy encounters a Hand-Bot determined to erase her "unregistered bacteria" - yikes - and she's soon on the run from a horde of needle-firing Bots. Desperate, Amy hides within a smoke-filled vent and the androids are suddenly unable to detect her - what exactly is going on?

Amy arrives at 'The Gate' - a portal to any of Two Stream's entertainment zones - and visits an idyllic virtual garden. She learns from Interface that the vent which saved her is part of the temporal engine holding the multiple time streams in place - handily, the device messes with the Hand-Bots' sensors.

Amy finds the temporal engines - a haven free of pesky Hand-Bots - and decides to hide inside. Rory quickly finds his wife, but things are far from over. Amy is now in her late 50s - the Doctor and Rory have traveled too far, they never came to save her and she's been waiting for 36 years!

The older Amy has become bitter in the years she spent stranded and blames the Doctor for the hellish time she has spent alone. Amy takes a stunned Rory to her hide-out, where she keeps a Hand-Bot - named after her husband - as a pet. It even has a face drawn on and has been disarmed - literally.

The Doctor quickly realizes that, with so many time streams at work within the facility, time is not just "wibbly" and "wobbly" but also plain old "wubbly". Translation: he can use the temporal engines to link the two parts of Amy's time-stream together. Amy can finally be saved, but she surprises both the Doctor and Rory by rejecting their plan.

You see, the older Amy knows that the Doctor is planning to rescue the Amy from 36 years ago - if she's saved, the older Amy will be erased from history. She implores Rory to rescue her instead, but the Doctor warns him that they can only take one Amy away with them in the TARDIS. Rory has to make an impossible decision - "Which wife do I want?".

A furious Rory rants at the Doctor, but suddenly, the younger Amy's sobs can be heard through the Time-Glass. Rory shows the vision of his wife to her older self and the two versions of Amy Pond finally come face to face, through the looking glass. And here's where it gets really complicated. The older Amy explains that the Doctor and Rory will leave her younger self trapped, because she refuses to help and risk being erased from time. "I won't let them save myself."

So... Amy is trapped in Red Waterfall and grows old, so refuses to save her younger self and be erased, which leads to her younger self being trapped in the first place - got a headache yet? It appears Amy is caught in a tragic time-loop, but the younger Amy has three words for her aged counterpart, "What about Rory?"

The two Amys reminisce about their husband and the youthful romance they shared. Touched by their shared love for Rory, the older Amy decides to pull time apart for her beloved. The Doctor assures his male companion, "If anyone can defeat pre-destiny, it's your wife." But the older Amy isn't quite ready to sacrifice herself - she begs Rory to take both versions of her away in the TARDIS and the Doctor claims that it should be possible to maintain the paradox.

Using some fun sci-fi technobabble, the Doc instructs Rory on how to realign the time-lines. Young Amy is reunited with her husband and the two Miss Ponds finally meet in the flesh. But there's little time for awkward conversations, as the sinister Hand-Bots return. Rory and the Amys fend the 'droids off as they race towards the TARDIS, but the young Amy is dosed with anaesthetic and is out cold, forcing Rory to carry her inside the Doctor's craft.

Older Amy runs toward the ship and catches sight of the Doctor, but the Time Lord coldly shuts the doors, locking her out. Turns out the Doctor lied - the paradox of two Amys is too huge to sustain. He plans to leave and erase the future Amy from time, but Rory protests and the Doctor places the ultimate choice in his hands.

A tearful Rory prepares to let the older Amy in, but she tells him, "If you love me, don't let me in" - she's come to the realisation that she must 'die' so that her younger self can lead the life she missed out on, in the TARDIS with Rory. Still thinking loving thoughts of her husband, old Amy is dosed with anaesthetic by the Hand-Bots. The robots close in around her...

Back in the TARDIS, the regular Amy is safe and sleeping soundly. She soon wakes and her first thought is of her older self. Leaving Rory to deal with the awkward questions, the Doctor exits the console room, a grim look on his face.

TARDIS SCANNER!• 'The Girl Who Waited' is a phenomenal episode of Doctor Who and Karen Gillan does her best ever work on the show. Her performance as the older Amy will quite rightly be applauded, but Gillan also brings a touching humanity to the regular version of her character in this installment.• The relationship between Amy and Rory also feels more real than ever before and the scene in which the two Amys discuss their youthful romance is the highlight of the episode.• Arthur Darvill is also given emotional material to deal with and steps up to the plate superbly. It's also nice to see more interaction between the Doctor and Rory - their relationship is an interesting one and too often the pair simply react to Amy.• This is a deeply moving episode, but there's still room for plenty of humor. Our personal favorite line is Rory's "I'm not on my own - I've got my wives".• And let's not leave out our leading man - Matt Smith plays a reduced role, but he's nevertheless reliably excellent and lends the Doctor a somewhat sinister edge here.